I Was Inspired To Slick Up My Action
Posted: 22 Jan 2017 11:29
I was inspired yesterday at a gun show. A guy was walking the floor with a model 92 for sale. I asked to see it, and it was one of the smoothest, easiest to operate lever actions I've ever held. If it wasn't a 45 colt it would be in my gun cabinet right now. (I really prefer 357's.)
I talked to him a little about what he did to slick it up, and then came home and worked mine over. I am pleased with the results.
First, a word of caution... I pulled the loading gate off to smooth out a burr in the frame there. When I put it back together I didn't get the gate spring snugged down right. I nearly didn't get the rifle back apart again after that. Be sure to snug down the screw that holds the gate spring.
So, here's what I did:
-I smoothed out the burr in the loading port (Yay!! No more scratched brass.)
-I got this spring kit from Harbor Freight... http://www.harborfreight.com/200-piece- ... 67562.html There is a 7/32" X 1 1/2" spring in there that works well as a replacement for the troublesome ejector spring. This is thanks to advice on this youtube video... I need to give credit where it's due.
-I smoothed any of the places on the gun where I saw evidence of wear. I really didn't spend a lot of time on this step. I used a very fine grit sharpening stone on the moving parts. I did use some 320 grit paper on the insides of the locking bolt channels on the frame. I went very lightly at this point.
-Here's the part that made the most difference on my particular gun. Even after smoothing things out and putting in the lighter ejector spring there was still a very stiff part of the action right at the very top of the lever swing. I did a little investigating, and the right locking bolt was much tighter in it's track than the left locking bolt. There was a bulge at the top of the bolt that didn't match the left bolt, and didn't seem to match the channel that the bolt rides in. It was about 10 thousandths proud of the surface of the rest of the bolt. I took a triangle file to just this part of the bolt and got it down to where it matched the other bolt. (I actually still left it a little thicker just because it's easier to remove more material later if needed than put it back on). I polished the filed surface with the fine sharpening stone. This made the action cycle SOOO much more smooth.
-As a final step I replaced the main spring on the hammer. I bought a spring kit a while ago for my Blackhawks... http://www.midwayusa.com/product/341536 ... wk-vaquero I had a 19 lb spring left over after working over my revolvers. As I was disassembling and reassembling my Rossi multiple times I kept noticing the similarity between the hammer mechanisms on the rifle and on the pistols. The Wolff springs are slightly shorter than the Rossi springs, but the one I put in is still compressed when the hammer is down. Replacing this spring made a small difference. It leads me to believe that the lighter springs in this same kit (that are now in my revolvers) may work better. I'm sure the best option is to get the hammer spring from Steve's Guns and install it. Installing this hammer spring was pretty simple.
In the end I still think the rifle at the gun show was smoother than mine, but mine is MUCH better than it was. I haven't shot it yet to see if I've totally screwed it up, but it cycles ammo nicely and smoothly. It's not flipping brass across the room either. There was a nice neat pile of bullets at my feat after I emptied the magazine.
I talked to him a little about what he did to slick it up, and then came home and worked mine over. I am pleased with the results.
First, a word of caution... I pulled the loading gate off to smooth out a burr in the frame there. When I put it back together I didn't get the gate spring snugged down right. I nearly didn't get the rifle back apart again after that. Be sure to snug down the screw that holds the gate spring.
So, here's what I did:
-I smoothed out the burr in the loading port (Yay!! No more scratched brass.)
-I got this spring kit from Harbor Freight... http://www.harborfreight.com/200-piece- ... 67562.html There is a 7/32" X 1 1/2" spring in there that works well as a replacement for the troublesome ejector spring. This is thanks to advice on this youtube video... I need to give credit where it's due.
-I smoothed any of the places on the gun where I saw evidence of wear. I really didn't spend a lot of time on this step. I used a very fine grit sharpening stone on the moving parts. I did use some 320 grit paper on the insides of the locking bolt channels on the frame. I went very lightly at this point.
-Here's the part that made the most difference on my particular gun. Even after smoothing things out and putting in the lighter ejector spring there was still a very stiff part of the action right at the very top of the lever swing. I did a little investigating, and the right locking bolt was much tighter in it's track than the left locking bolt. There was a bulge at the top of the bolt that didn't match the left bolt, and didn't seem to match the channel that the bolt rides in. It was about 10 thousandths proud of the surface of the rest of the bolt. I took a triangle file to just this part of the bolt and got it down to where it matched the other bolt. (I actually still left it a little thicker just because it's easier to remove more material later if needed than put it back on). I polished the filed surface with the fine sharpening stone. This made the action cycle SOOO much more smooth.
-As a final step I replaced the main spring on the hammer. I bought a spring kit a while ago for my Blackhawks... http://www.midwayusa.com/product/341536 ... wk-vaquero I had a 19 lb spring left over after working over my revolvers. As I was disassembling and reassembling my Rossi multiple times I kept noticing the similarity between the hammer mechanisms on the rifle and on the pistols. The Wolff springs are slightly shorter than the Rossi springs, but the one I put in is still compressed when the hammer is down. Replacing this spring made a small difference. It leads me to believe that the lighter springs in this same kit (that are now in my revolvers) may work better. I'm sure the best option is to get the hammer spring from Steve's Guns and install it. Installing this hammer spring was pretty simple.
In the end I still think the rifle at the gun show was smoother than mine, but mine is MUCH better than it was. I haven't shot it yet to see if I've totally screwed it up, but it cycles ammo nicely and smoothly. It's not flipping brass across the room either. There was a nice neat pile of bullets at my feat after I emptied the magazine.